Clint Eastwood talks politics on ‘Ellen’

Clint Eastwood talks politics on ‘Ellen’

(CNN) – Clint Eastwood will stop by Ellen DeGeneres’ daytime talk show today and, just as “Saturday Night Live” couldn’t avoid parodying it, Eastwood will have to talk about that empty chair.

Not that he has any regrets. As DeGeneres points out in a clip from Tuesday’s show, the 82-year-old actor/director isn’t making any apologies. Say what you will about his talk with an invisible President Obama, but does Eastwood care?

That’d be a “no,” he tells DeGeneres.

The reaction to his speech at the Republican National Convention was “interesting,” Eastwood continues. “The Democrats who were watching thought I was going senile, and the Republicans knew I was. But it was actually just me trying to enjoy myself, in a way.”

And while his speech was given at the RNC, he holds the views of a Libertarian, Eastwood tells DeGeneres.

“Libertarian values, that’s where Republicans used to be, when they were saving money and everything. Libertarian means you’re sort of socially … you leave everybody alone, but you believe in fiscal responsibility and you believe in government staying out of your life. I still believe in that,” Eastwood says. “When I was 21 years old and started voting, I sort of became a Republican because that’s the way they were thinking. But in the last few years, both sides have spent like drunken sailors.”

With all of the political talk, it may be easy to forget that Eastwood’s still a movie star, but his latest project, “Trouble with the Curve,” opens Friday.